Mike’s Musings – Tristen makes Farwell proud

Congratulations and more are in order for Farwell’s first ever state champion in any sport. Tristen Zienkiewicz, was crowned 160lb. champion at the MHSAA wrestling championships at the Palace of Auburn Hills over the weekend.

Tristen, who garnered a 48-2 record through the year, was able to execute an inside trip with 8 seconds left to be awarded two points, and thus win the match over Jared Elliott of Birch Run, 4-3. Imagine Elliott’s disappointment. Only 8 seconds left and virtually assured the match with a one point lead, when Tristen strikes to overtake Elliott and win the state championship.

As Tristen celebrated so did Farwell. The dramatic match was re-shown on the big screen at Jaime Center in the school. A quick, makeshift, parade was organized as Tristen, police and fire vehicles made their way through town to the applause of dozens of residents who lined the streets on a cold Saturday afternoon to pay homage to Tristen.

In explaining his win, Tristen said this, “Hitting an inside trip with eight seconds left to go- I thought my God, my God, my dream is going to come true. Whatever is there I take it.”

That he did, and along with a state championship, he made the community of Farwell, very very proud.

Another victory of sorts was celebrated by Missaukee pig farmer Mark Baker and his supporters. Last week they learned the Circuit Judge William Fagerman had dismissed the Michigan DNR’s motion for a summary dismissal of the lawsuit Baker filed against the DNR and the DNR’s countersuit against Baker.

The State, in the form of the Attorney General’s office, directed by the DNR, had filed a $700,000 lawsuit against Baker because he was raising 70 Mangalista pigs- a species of pig the DNR called invasive, on his farm a few miles north of Marion.

But the State got more than they bargained for, with Baker, and a cadre of supporters who fought a David vs Goliath fight, and won. Baker had always claimed his Mangalista pigs, although a rare breed, were never invasive, or could be termed feral. In face the Mangalistas are thought of as a delicacy and served in fine restaurants everywhere.

Now that Baker has won he’s got to get back to work. The long ordeal with the State has created financial hardships for his family and farm. He hopes, as he says, to rekindle the market in Michigan, for Mangalistas. We wish him the best of luck.

Everyone knows when they call the REVIEW office, they will get me answering the phone 75% of the time. My dad, always said, ” if you’re going to own a small business you gotta be accessible, and the best way to be accessible is to answer your own phone.”

I guess I took that to heart. It does have its drawbacks, however. A prime example is Obamacare and what are federal government has created in an effort to sell the program to anyone and everyone. As a good journalist I perused the Healthcare.gov website on a couple of occasions to ascertain how user friendly it was.

Since then, I have been barraged with phone calls from Obamacare solicitors. I kid you not- not one call, not three calls, but at least a half dozen a day. They somehow have invaded my cellphone as well, where I get calls from California or Florida on a regular basis from insurance brokers looking to sign me up.

It’s maddening. Day after day, you kindly tell them to take you off their list, but most of the time you are talking to robotic dialers. I’m curious as to whether all these phone calls actually add up to health care sign-ups. I really thought there were regulations phone solicitors had to abide by, but I guess if you’re the federal government, those regulations don’t matter.